With Over 16,000 Graduates, Coding Bootcamps Continue to Stack Up

Jun 8, 2015

THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR CODIN': More adults are taking to coding bootcamps to reboot their careers. This year, an estimated 16,056 students will graduate from these programs—up from 6,740 in 2014—according to a Course Report survey that received responses from 63 of 67 schools in the US and Canada. (Last year's study, by comparison, counted 43 such programs.)

Tuition for these bootcamps, which typically last nine to 12 weeks, range from free to $21,000, with an average cost of $11,063. Ruby is the most popular programming language, taught in 39 percent of courses, followed by JavaScript.

Course Report estimates that 48,700 US students received an undergraduate computer science degree in 2014, a figure that the company suggests could be surpassed by coders coming from bootcamps. But the comparison may not be entirely fair, given that bootcamps tend to cater to young adults who already have jobs and bachelor's degrees. And their target audience will expand: Skill Distillery, a 19-week bootcamp based in Denver, recently won approval from the US Department of Veterans Affairs to accept GI Bill.

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